Ardern still all at sea on water tax - Joyce

Only four days out from the election, and Labour’s leader still has no idea how much her planned water tax would cost New Zealand households, businesses and farms – and who would pay it, says National Party Finance Spokesperson Steven Joyce.

Challenged this morning about New Zealanders’ frustration at this lack of detail, Jacinda Ardern said “yeah, me too.”

“She couldn’t say how many farmers would have to pay her water tax or how much it would cost them,” Mr Joyce says.

“And in another interview she raised the prospect of regional variations of the tax but again with absolutely no detail.

“Ms Ardern said Labour simply didn’t have the ability at this point to tell New Zealanders what they would be charged. And these people want to be running the country next week.

“It’s simply not good enough for Labour to be guessing about one of their most controversial policies less than a week out from the election. And it is just one of the seven new taxes Labour would impose on hard working New Zealanders.

“They continue to flip-flop on capital gains tax. They are now saying they would legislate for one in the next term of Government, and they refuse to rule out applying to it small businesses, farms or inherited assets. Yet they still can’t tell anyone what small businesses or farms have got to do with the housing market.

“Labour remain all at sea on tax. All we know is that they would add lots of taxes which would only slow down the economy.”